Determining performance states of parent components in a virtual-machine environment based on performance states of related child components

• US 8,683,467 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bingham, Brian, Fletcher, Tristan
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, James J
• Application Number:
  US13/874,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20130247042A1
• Time in Patent Office: 329 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A virtual-machine environment can include a parent component (e.g., a host cluster, a host or a set of virtual machines) that is a parent to a set of two or more child components. For example, a host cluster can be a parent to multiple hosts; a host can be a parent to multiple virtual machines; and a set of virtual machines can be a parent to multiple virtual machines. Performance metrics for the child components can be monitored. A child-component performance state can be determined for each child component in the set of two or more child components using a corresponding monitored performance metric and a child-component state criterion (e.g., that maps performance-metric values to states). A parent performance state can be determined for the parent component using the child-component performance state for each child component in the set and a parent-component state criterion.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, on a computing device, a parent component in a virtual-machine environment, wherein the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, a host, or a set of two or more virtual machines;

identifying a set of two or more child components having at least one of the following relationships to the parent component;

when the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a host in the host cluster,

when the parent component includes a host, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host, and

when the parent component includes a set of two or more virtual machines, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine in the set of two or more virtual machines;

determining, on a computing device, a performance metric for each child component in the set of two or more child components, wherein the performance metric characterizes a task-processing time, a count or percentage of task completions, an intake number, a resource power state, a processor usage, a processor speed, a memory usage, a network usage, an occurrence of memory swapping or memory ballooning, an occurrence of an error, a task-migration variable, a processing-power allocation, or a memory allocation;

determining a child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components based on the performance metric for the child component and a child-component state criterion, wherein the child-component state criterion maps a first range of values for a performance metric to a first child-component performance state and a second range of values for the performance metric to a second child-component performance state; and

determining a parent state for the parent component based on the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components and a parent-component state criterion, wherein the parent-component state criterion includes a threshold percentage or number of child components that have a specified state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component and an indication of the parent state of the parent component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the set of two or more child components and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, a representation of the set of two or more child components, and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, and an indication that the parent component and the set of child components are related.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the child-component state criterion includes a threshold separating the first range of values from the second range of values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components using the child-performance state criterion includes mapping the performance metric for the child component to the child-component performance state.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising concurrently displaying an indication of the parent state of the parent component and an indication of the child-component state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, and each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a host in the host cluster.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the parent component includes a host, and each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the parent component includes a set of two or more virtual machines, and each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine in the set of two or more virtual machines.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a visual indication of the parent state of the parent component.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a visual indication of the child-performance state for each child component in the set of child components.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the parent-component state criterion based on user input.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components includes:

determining a performance-metric statistic based on a set of performance metrics for the child component, wherein the set of performance metrics includes the performance metric; and

comparing the performance-metric statistic to a threshold for the performance metric.

16. A system, comprising:

one or more data processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform actions including;

identifying, on a computing device, a parent component in a virtual-machine environment, wherein the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, a host, or a set of two or more virtual machines;

identifying a set of two or more child components having at least one of the following relationships to the parent component;

when the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a host in the host cluster,

when the parent component includes a host, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host, and

when the parent component includes a set of two or more virtual machines, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine in the set of two or more virtual machines;

determining, on a computing device, a performance metric for each child component in the set of two or more child components, wherein the performance metric characterizes a task-processing time, a count or percentage of task completions, an intake number, a resource power state, a processor usage, a processor speed, a memory usage, a network usage, an occurrence of memory swapping or memory ballooning, an occurrence of an error, a task-migration variable, a processing-power allocation, or a memory allocation;

determining a child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components based on the performance metric for the child component and a child-component state criterion, wherein the child-component state criterion maps a first range of values for a performance metric to a first child-component performance state and a second range of values for the performance metric to a second child-component performance state; and

determining a parent state for the parent component based on the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components and a parent-component state criterion, wherein the parent-component state criterion includes a threshold percentage or number of child components that have a specified state.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the actions further include:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component and an indication of the parent state of the parent component.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the actions further include:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the set of two or more child components and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the actions further include:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, a representation of the set of two or more child components, and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, and an indication that the parent component and the set of child components are related.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the actions further include:

concurrently displaying an indication of the parent state of the parent component and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the parent component includes a host, and each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the actions further include:

generating the parent-component state criterion based on user input.

24. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to perform actions including:

identifying, on a computing device, a parent component in a virtual-machine environment, wherein the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, a host, or a set of two or more virtual machines;

identifying a set of two or more child components having at least one of the following relationships to the parent component;

when the parent component includes a host cluster of two or more hosts, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a host in the host cluster,

when the parent component includes a host, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host, and

when the parent component includes a set of two or more virtual machines, each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine in the set of two or more virtual machines;

determining, on a computing device, a performance metric for each child component in the set of two or more child components, wherein the performance metric characterizes a task-processing time, a count or percentage of task completions, an intake number, a resource power state, a processor usage, a processor speed, a memory usage, a network usage, an occurrence of memory swapping or memory ballooning, an occurrence of an error, a task-migration variable, a processing-power allocation, or a memory allocation;

determining a child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components based on the performance metric for the child component and a child-component state criterion, wherein the child-component state criterion maps a first range of values for a performance metric to a first child-component performance state and a second range of values for the performance metric to a second child-component performance state; and

determining a parent state for the parent component based on the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components and a parent-component state criterion, wherein the parent-component state criterion includes a threshold percentage or number of child components that have a specified state.

25. The computer-program product of claim 24, wherein the actions further include:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, a representation of the set of two or more child components, and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

26. The computer-program product of claim 24, further comprising:

displaying a visual representation of the virtual-machine environment, wherein the visual representation includes a representation of the parent component, an indication of the parent state of the parent component, and an indication that the parent component and the set of child components are related.

27. The computer-program product of claim 24, wherein the actions further include:

concurrently displaying an indication of the parent state of the parent component and an indication of the child-component performance state for each child component in the set of two or more child components.

28. The computer-program product of claim 24, wherein the parent component includes a host, and each child component in the set of two or more child components includes a virtual machine running on the host.

29. The computer-program product of claim 24, wherein the actions further include:

generating the parent-component state criterion based on user input.